


Born from Fire

by Lucifer_BringerofLight



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28013088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucifer_BringerofLight/pseuds/Lucifer_BringerofLight
Summary: Reyna can't die. Or more precisely, she doesn't stay dead. And not only that, she's some kind of supernatural internet. Whenever she meets someone with supernatrual powers, she knows everything about them. That is, until she meets Jordan Parrish. Much to her surprise, she knows nothing about him. Not even his name. All she knows is that he can't burn. And she only knows because his colleague had just set his car on fire.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Jordan Parrish/OC





	1. Chapter 1

Great, I was late again. Coach wouldn’t like that. Never did. And it was the second time this week I was. As quietly as possible I slipped into the classroom and sat down at the first free table I could find. Which was way back in the last row.

“Won’t you join us in the front, Arida?”

“No, I think I’m good back here.”

A few students chuckled, but Coach was mad.

“Get your ass here, now!”

Couldn’t ignore that. If someone didn’t listen to him, he could get really mad. Even at me. Though, he usually wasn’t that strict with me, he hated it, to be disobeyed. He had a bit of a temper, our dear Coach.

Without much of a choice, I grabbed my bag and moved to the front row.

“And why, Arida, are you late, again?”

I smiled at him as charmingly as I could,

“You shouldn’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to.”

Anger showed on his face and it was obvious, that I had a nice little chat with him ahead of me. Gladly, after the lesson. So, I had some time to come up with an excuse. For now, I had to listen to economics. One of the most boring classes I took.

When the bell rang, all the other students jumped up and practically ran out. Except for me and Greenburg.

“Coach, I have a question.”

“No, you don’t, Greenberg. Now get out!”

Greenberg left, with a slightly offended look on his face. This guy had an unhealthy, and definitely unappreciated, obsession with our Coach. No one really liked Greenberg, though. He was weird. Probably one of the reasons he had a crush on Coach.

As soon as the door closed behind Greenberg, Coach dropped his angry expression, instead he looked at me concerned. He never managed to be mad at me for long. Lucky me, I guess.

“What’s going on? Is it a guy again? You’re having a boyfriend and not wanting me to know? Is it that?”

I couldn’t decide whether he looked hurt, worried or frustrated. He didn’t like me having secrets from him. Sometimes I got the feeling that he thought he was doing something wrong if I wouldn’t tell him everything. That I was just eighteen didn’t matter for him.

“C’mon Rey, you know that you can talk to me. Okay, I might have overreacted when you told me you were dating Aiden. But they were creeping me out.”

I couldn’t meet his eyes, so I fixed my look at my desk. Aiden hadn’t been my first boyfriend. But for some reason Bobby had disliked him. Him and his twin Ethan. 

“Doesn’t matter anymore, does it? Aiden’s dead.”

“I know, Rey, I’m sorry.”

I could clearly hear how guilty he felt about giving me a hard time when I was dating Aiden. What he didn’t knew was that I had reasons other than liking Aiden. Which I did, of course. But Aiden and his Ethan had been powerful Werewolves. And the leader of their Alpha-Pack, Deucalion, was a Demonwolf. A werewolf beyond powerful. I’d hoped he might be able to help me, but then their pack broke off, Aiden returned to Lydia and I was left with as much knowledge as I started. Bobby thought I had broken up with Aiden because of him. At first, he was happy about it, but then Aiden died, and I stopped talking to him completely.

“Can’t you just believe me, that I’m okay and let it go?”

“But you’re not okay. You sneak out almost every night. You don’t talk to me like you used to, you don’t even yell at me anymore.”

That was true. Bobby and I used to get alone rather well, with some arguments once in a while. But now we didn’t talk anymore, I barley was at home. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to him, I did. I wanted to explain all this crap to him, I wanted him to understand me, so badly. But I knew he wouldn’t. He couldn’t understand any of it. And I couldn’t lie to him, I couldn’t stand lying to him all the time. So, I wasn’t around.

“I just need time. First Boyd and Erica and now Aiden. Isaac and Ethan are god-knows-where. I don’t have any friends left anymore. They’re all dead. C’mon, Bobby, let me just… do it my way.”

He looked anything but happy. He knew that, when he let me go now, I’d pull away from him even more. But he didn’t want to push me, either. He’d lost his best friends once, too. Therefore, he knew it would take time.

“Why don’t you try and befriend that new girl, or that daughter of the history teacher?”

“You mean Malia and Kira? Because they’re all in McCall’s pack. It’s him, Stiles, Lydia, Kira and Malia. They don’t need no one. Especially not me.”

“Okay, okay. Go on. Do whatever it is you have to. Just… take care, you know. Be safe.”

I could hear how much it pained him to say that. He wanted nothing more, than being there for me. He wanted to take me in his arms and hold me until everything was fine again, just as he used to when I was younger.

“I… thanks Bobby.”

I couldn’t tell him I’d be safe. It was most unlikely that I would be. And I didn’t want to lie about it. Not to him. I owed him so much. He’d taken me in after my parents died, he took care of me ever since. Even quit drinking for me. Said, he couldn’t raise a child and be an alcoholic. I couldn’t lie to him. Not more than I already did.

“And, you know, maybe McCall has room for yet another pack member.”

I was sure he didn’t need, nor want me in his pack, but Bobby had given me an idea. There was someone else, beside Deucalion, who knew a lot. How lucky I had a free period now, so I might get some information soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Of course, it was risky showing up at a werewolf’s territory, but it was a risk worth taking. I’d knocked a few times already, but nobody answered, so I just went ahead and opened the door. The moment I pushed the door aside, someone jumped at me. I didn’t even had time to scream before his claws ripped through my chest. Screaming in agony, I sank to the floor. Lying in a puddle of my own blood.

“The hell?”

A man stood over me, looking somewhat between shocked and surprised.

“Derek, I think I killed another human!”

He sounded surprisingly panicked.

“What did you do this time?”

Those werewolves were psychopaths. Honestly. What was I thinking? Had I learned nothing from the twins and Deucalion? Completely psycho! 

Another man appeared over me, cursing. This one was Derek Hale, the one I had come for. He knelt down next to me, studying my face.

“Do you know her?”

“No, you don’t either?”

They looked at each other, then back to me. Then Derek seemed to realise that I was still bleeding.

“We should get her to the hospital.”

He proceeded to pick me up, but I grabbed his wrist.

“Don’t-”

Astonished, both men stopped and starred at me.

“What did you just say?”

“Gah!” Hell did that hurt. I had almost forgotten how much dying hurt.

Black dots danced in front of my eyes. I could feel my temperature rising. Gosh, why did it hurt so much?

“You… you should … get back!”

The pain grew stronger, consuming me. Burning through my veins. Derek was still right next to me, his hand on my forehead, frowning at my quickly rising temperature. I knew I couldn’t hold it back much longer. But if they stood to close, they’d get hurt, maybe even killed.

“Why should we get back?”

“Just do … it.”

My body was too hot now for Derek to touch it. He looked from me to the other man. After thinking for a moment, he signalled him to get away from me and took some steps back himself. Not one moment too soon. The burning intensified. By now my whole body was glowing red from heat. The wounds on my torso began to steam and smoke and then I burst into flames. Other than expected, the flames didn’t hurt me. Actually, the eased the pain. At first slowly, then faster, and faster until there was no more pain. Within seconds after that, they extinguished. Groaning I sat up. Dying sucked.

“What the hell did just happen?”

Derek looked from me to the second guy and back to me, confused and probably a bit scared.

“I died. But don’t worry, it didn’t stick.”

That didn’t made it better. He was only more confused.

“What are you?”

Here we go, the million-dollar question. The reason I had come here.

“Don’t look at me. I have no idea. That’s why I came to you. I know that you’re a born wolf. Your family knows some things.”

“Yes, we do. But I never met something like you.”

The second guy, the one who murdered me, sat down on the couch. Still, looking uneasy, though he tried to hide it.

“Could she be a hellhound?”

The man, I now suspected to be Peter Hale, Derek’s uncle, shook his head, “Hellhounds heal like we do. Not like that.”

“What am I then?”

He shrugged his shoulders. Great, so they didn’t know either. Deucalion had told me, he couldn’t help me, too. Probably because he hadn’t known. So, what now? I needed to know what I was.

“No idea. I take it, you’re immune to fire?”

“Yes, always have been. I always healed fast, too. But smaller injuries don’t burn me. They just get hot and then close themselves.”

“And how severe do they have to be to burn?”

“Lethal. They have to be lethal. I found out when I was six. Shot through the head. Burned and got up.”

“Are your parents like you?”

“Since they didn’t get up anymore, I doubt that.”

Most people would be shocked about how indifferent I sounded about their dead, but Derek just nodded, and Peter looked as confused and clueless as at the beginning.

“You never heard of anything like it, did you?”

Both shook their heads. Great, I wasted my time and died for nothing. Now I was tired. Dying was exhausting.

“Maybe Deaton knows something. He’s a druid.”

“Deaton? Like the veterinarian? A druid as a vet. Sure, why not. Considering that my ex is a, now dead werewolf, who could melt with his twin, my best friend got turned into a werewolf and disappeared after his girlfriend, a werewolf hunter, died, and my English teacher was a psychotic, people sacrificing bitch it’s not too absurd, isn’t it?”

Derek and Peter exchanged another look. Then Derek smiled uneasily, “You knew about the Twins and Isaac?”

“I know about all this fucking shit going on in this nuthouse of a town. About you murdering people, you, dying and not staying dead. “

“True, but you don’t seem to stay dead either.”

“I think, that’s a bit different, because I didn’t use a Banshee, who poisoned lots of people.”

“You do, indeed, know a lot.”

Derek sounded impressed, but Peter looked uneasy. Didn’t even try to hide it anymore.

“How do you know?”

“Dreams, every time some supernatural being is in danger, I know. I don’t see it or anything. I just know and I want to help.”

Since that didn’t clear things up, Derek drove me to an animal clinic. While we drove, he looked at me, as if he was worried, I’d spontaneously combust and burn his car and him down. But he didn’t say anything.

When we finally arrived at the clinic I jumped out of the car. The silence inside had been terribly awkward, as if he wanted to ask something, but couldn’t find the words. But he didn’t need to. I had a pretty good idea what he wanted to ask.

“Cora is fine. She was on some bad situations, but she got out. At the moment she’s fine.”

His face showed that I had been right, though he didn’t say anything.

We entered and stopped in front of a hip high door. For some reason neither Derek nor I could open it.

“It’s made from Mountain Ash. Keeps everything supernatural out.”

A man appeared in the doorway behind the counter. Dr Deaton. I had met him years ago when I had found a wounded cat and brought it to him.

“Who’s that, Derek?”

“Reyna Arida. I’m Reyna Arida. We’re here to find out…”

“She burned and healed while burning. Apparently, she burns every time she gets mortally wounded.”

Deaton opened the door and lead us in his examination room, where Derek explained everything, I had told him before. Deaton’s expression was dark and worried, but he didn’t say anything.

“So, what am I now?”

“Aren’t you in my class?”

Without anyone noticing, Scott at come in and listened to Derek.

“You’re Reyna, right?”

Great, now he knew. But hey, maybe I could keep my promise to Bobby that I’d try and befriend him.

“And you’re a true Alpha…. Yes, I’m in some of your classes.”

“And you were with Boyd, Erica and Isaac. Didn’t you have a relationship whit Aiden?”

How did he know all that? This guy had to have so many things on his mind, it must be almost impossible to know his classmates. Then again, he probably just knew me because I had some werewolves as friends.

“Yeah. But, really, I’ve some more important things on mind right now. So, Dr Deaton. What am I?”

He sighed deeply, “I heard stories about someone who could be reborn from fire. But I never met someone who could or even someone who knew about one. In the stories, they call someone like you a phoenix, but really, I never heard about one really existing.”

“Guess I’m pretty rare then?”

“If not unique.”

Nice…ish. I didn’t want to be unique. And about the other part of my powers, Derek hadn’t even told him yet.

“Can you control fire? Fight with it, maybe?”

“If I learned it, pretty sure I can control it.”

Scott nodded in amazement, Derek, on the other hand, didn’t look too surprised.

“I could teach you control.”

That sounded like a good idea. I really wanted to learn to fight. It was the only way that I could use my knowledge to help, and maybe save, the ones in danger. More than once, I had sat in my room, fully aware of someone in mortal danger, but knowing that there was nobody who could help them, who could reach them in time. Sometimes I knew that someone would come and help. Mostly there was just an update that the one has been saved or saved oneself. But I wanted to be able to do more, to help myself.

“Reyna, we have to get to school, if you don’t want to be late again.”

“Crap! You’re right. I can’t be late twice in one day.”

Bobby would be really pissed if I managed to do that. And, much worse, he would worry even more.

“You can drive with me.”

“That’d be great, thanks Scott.”

“No problem.”

I turned to Derek, “I’d say, I come by after school, but I don’t want to be slashed to pieces again.”

Derek almost smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ll tell Peter to go home, for once.”


	3. Chapter 3

We somehow managed to get to school in time. the bell rang just as we slipped in our seats. Mr. Yukimura raised an eyebrow at us, but that was it. The rest of the school day was boring. Scott apparently had told his friends about me, as they eyed me as soon as I got near them, but they didn’t say anything. When the bell rang, I was glad to get out. Since our conversation, I was anxious to get to Derek.

At his loft knocked, but as earlier, nobody answered. Cautiously I pushed the door opened and entered. Derek came down the stairs.

“Peter’s gone, don’t worry. Won’t kill you again. Not today at least.”

If that was supposed to be a joke, funny. If not, worrying. Considering Derek’s tone, he wasn’t sure which one it was himself. And that was concerning.

“You don’t need to knock, by the way. No one ever knocks. Except for this one guy, who Peter’s after right now.”

“Let me guess, he’s the one Peter expected this morning?”

Derek didn’t react but I knew.

“His name’s… Gonzales. That’s the name. Werewolf. Stole form Peter, didn’t he. Poor Gonzales. Not so poor, actually. He’s kinda psycho. Murdered several coyotes and wolfs. But Peter is not the biggest threat he has to face. Desert Wolf is.”

I grabbed my head. She always caused me an enormous headache. All those people she threatened. All those connections. Way too much information at once.

“You know about her?”

“I know she is Malia’s mother. But I … thinking about her hurts. Badly. She is extremely dangerous. And I know that Peter is looking for her. He shouldn’t.”

I sighed. Concentrating on what I knew about Peter eased the headache.

“How about we start training?”

Slowly Derek nodded. I could see that he didn’t want to drop the topic yet, but nevertheless, he did.

“We start with combat. General fighting skills. It will help you gain control.”

As I expected, I spent the next few hours getting beaten up by Derek. I would heal, of course. Actually, I was already healing. Derek leaned against the wall, I was lying on the floor. Had stayed there after he had thrown me down the last time.

“You’re hungry?”

“Starving.”

Derek laughed, walked over to me, and helped me up. Apparently, the training session was over for now.

“How about I order Pizza? Then we talk about the other part of your powers.”

I was curious about why had kept it secret from Deaton, so I agreed, and because I was really hungry. Right after school I had went here, so I hadn’t had time for lunch and in the morning, I went jogging to clear my mind, had taken its time, so I only had time for a shower, but no breakfast. Maybe, next time, I should eat before letting Derek beat me up.

After Derek had ordered Pizza, we sat down on the couch.

“So, how much do you know and how does it work?”

“It’s like supernatural internet. When I meet someone, I get information. They pop up in my brain. Like, with you… information about you, that you’re a born wolf, most of your family died in a fire, only you, Laura, Cora, and Peter survived. Laura was then killed by Peter, so that he’d become an Alpha. So, I get info about them too. Anyways, you became an Alpha when you killed Peter, but gave it up to save Cora. By the way, great character development. You even found you mate already… but you don’t know yet. That explains about everything.”

Curiously, I studied his expression. He had not the tiniest clue what I was talking about. But if he found his mate, it meant that he wasn’t losing his power, he was evolving. Gaining even more power. A werewolf was most powerful when he had found his mate.

“What are you talking about? Mates?”

Oh, of course, he’d been only fifteen when his mother died, so she wouldn’t have explained it to him.

“Short version? Mate is the wolf equivalent to soulmates. Just that mates actually exist. A wolf actually finding and staying with his mate is rare. If the mate is in his life for some time, it starts to affect the wolf. Once the wolf realizes who his mate is, they change. If the mate leaves his life, the effect vanishes.”

Derek still looked completely lost. He had no idea who his mate was, wasn’t even close. Probably thought it might be Braeden. I could help him, even tell him, but that was something he had to figure out himself.

“Is that what’s happening to me?”

“Yes and no. It has to do with Kate. As you suspected, didn’t you?”

He nodded, looking slightly terrified.

“Don’t worry, it’s not Kate. Not Braeden either, though. But after the change, part of you, the most primal wolf part, realized that you found someone to fight for. No matter what. That’s why it started.”

Slowly, he began to understand. “It was in the tomb, wasn’t it? While I was changing.”

“Yes. Your last thoughts before forgetting were about your mate.”

“I don’t remember.”

I smiled at him gently, “I know. But it’ll be alright.”

“Do you know that or are you just reassuring me?”

“I can’t tell the future if you want to know that. Not like that at least. I can tell, that Peter’s gonna drag Gonzales in here and beat him up, but not if he’ll ever find his mate. Though, I hope not. But I know who your mate is, and I saw you two together. I know. Believe me.”

“Peter is going to do what?!”

I didn’t had to answer. Peter did that himself, as he pushed the door aside and threw Gonzales into the room.

“That. He's gonna do that. Anyways, I’m not staying to watch Peter beat up a fellow werewolf. So, see you tomorrow?”

Derek nodded, starring at Peter and Gonzales. Peter just smiled at me charmingly and hit Gonzales in the stomach. Nice family, really nice, psychotic, bloodthirsty family. And they were gonna teach me control. Brilliant.

It was late when I got home. Luckily, I had no curfew. Still, Bobby was waiting for me. Probably wanted to make sure I came home. He looked tired. This most likely wasn't the first night he stayed up.

“You’ve been with that boy?”

“I’ve been with ...a guy.”

Not exactly reassuring. But I tried to smile.

“Do I know him?”

“Probably heard of him.”

While he was considered a dangerous criminal, but hey.

“Who is it? Someone from school?”

So much for giving me space.

“It’s Derek Hale and he’s teaching me self-defence.”

Yeah, that was not what Bobby had wanted to hear. But like it said, I didn’t like lying to him and that was the closest to truth I could get without telling him about all the supernatural crap.

“What do you mean, Derek Hale!?”

“What do you think I mean? Derek Hale. The accused murderer. He’s actually rather nice. His uncle is a bit of a maniac.”

“okay, I know I said I’d let you handle it your way. But you stay away from them. You got me? Stay away from the Hales.”

I knew he just wanted to protect me, but I got angry. I hated being bossed around. It made me mad. So incredibly mad.

“Why should I? Huh? Why?”

“Because he’s dangerous and because I tell you so! And you will listen to me.”

I snarled, but didn’t answer.

“You will listen to me, young lady. You hear me? You will stay away from Derek Hale!”

“You don’t have anything to say in this! You’re not my father!”

The moment I said it, I knew I had hurt Bobby. Deeply. But I was still so mad at him. I sighed annoyed and stormed off to my room, where I locked myself in. Great. Now I had hurt Bobby when all he wanted to do was taking care of me. Just great. Wasn’t like anything else was going well. I laid down on my bed, trying to get some rest, but sleep wouldn’t come to me.

It wasn’t long after midnight when I climbed out of the window to get back to Derek’s apartment. Once there, I pushed the door open and was only slightly surprised when it did open. This man either was really trustful or not afraid of anything. Anyways I was glad to get in.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit late to wander in?”

Derek appeared on top of the stairs. He wore only boxers, I’d probably woken him up.

“Couldn’t sleep.”

I shrugged my shoulders. After all, I wasn’t quite sure why I’d come here. Just thought it might be a good distraction.

“Wanna fight?”

“Yeah.”

He shrugged his shoulders and came down. He handed me a dagger from the table.

“Lesson two. Fighting with knifes.”

“I wasn’t good at lesson one. Shouldn’t we go back to that first?” 

“You will learn as you go. Remember, it’s not like you can die.”

“Is it the fastest way?”

He thought about it for some seconds, then nodded, “The fastest I can think about.”

“What are we waiting for, then?”


	4. Chapter 4

I stayed at Derek’s overnight. He’d beaten me up pretty badly, so when we stopped, all I wanted to do was crush down somewhere and maybe shower later. So, I slept on the couch in the loft’s bedroom.

“You should wake up if you want to be in school in time and shower before. I made breakfast.” he thought for a second, “I made cereals and I’ve got fruits.”

“Fruits sound good. As long as it’s food. But you’re right, first I need to shower.”

“The bathroom is right next door. Take one of the towels. When you’re done, I might have found some proper food for you.”

Half an hour later I sat in the kitchen eating cereals and fruits, while Derek watched me.

“What? Is it about the mate thing? I really can’t tell you more. You need to figure that out on your own.”

“Good to know, but that’s not it.” Derek shook his head, then smiled at me gently. “I just wondered what it is you’re running from?”

“The truth, I guess. It’s complicated.”

All Derek did was shrug his shoulders, “So is life usually. How about we talk later, after you come for lesson three.”

“What would that be?”

“Like lesson two, but without that much bleeding.”

“Good, because my body temperature is still higher than most humans could stand.”

“But you’re fit for school, are you?”

“If I don’t show up, I'll get in trouble.”

“Call me, if you need anything.”

I nodded, then left.

I didn’t have my books, or a bag, or anything, but hey, at least I was there. Third period was economics with Bobby. At first, when he saw me, he looked utterly and completely relieved, then his expression hardened. He was mad at me for what I said and for not talking to him in the morning and that I climbed out of the window. Which he surely noticed since I hadn’t left through the door. All good reasons to be mad. And he probably figured where I had stayed, considering we sorted out earlier, that I had no friends. So, he knew I disobeyed his orders. But for some reason he kept quiet. Just looked at me for some more seconds, then he started his lesson, trying to ignore me. I was more than happy when school was over. Bobby wouldn’t look at me, Scott, and his friends, on the other hand, wouldn’t stop. Every time they saw me, they stared at me as if they would see me for the first time.

Same as yesterday, I went to Derek’s after school. He already expected me. for some hours we trained, until he decided that it was enough for today.

“I can barely touch you, without burning myself. But you bled less than yesterday. That’s good. You’re getting better.”

“Thanks. I should go home.”

“Probably. Someone must be waiting for you.”

“My godfather. He was my dad’s best friend. So, when my parents died, he took me in. Raised me.”

“Where’s the problem?”

“He doesn’t know. About none of this. He’d freak out completely.”

Derek nodded, though I wasn’t sure if he actually understood. He never had this problem. He came from a family of werewolves. He had always known he’d turn eventually. He had his mother, who could explain it to him, guide him. I barely even knew what I was. There was no one else like me. no one to help me.

“I guess you know about the Dead Pool?”

I nodded, a bit surprised about the sudden topic change.

“Of course. I could feel it. All those people in danger. It almost drove me crazy. But… you’re not on it. Not anymore. Nor is your uncle. Peter’s not in any danger at the moment.”

“Are you on it?”

Interesting question. Did I knew when I was in danger myself? I wasn’t sure. Sometimes I got a bad feeling about something and wouldn’t do it. But was it the same?

“Doesn’t matter. I can’t die, remember?”

“Yeah, true. Almost forgot. Anyways, Peter’s coming soon, so I guess you want to go.”

“Geez, yeah. That guy… total psycho.”

“Why, thank you dear.”

Peter had entered the room without notice. And now walked over.

“I’m gone.”

I glance at Derek and left quickly. No way I’d be near that maniac voluntarily.


	5. Chapter 5

But instead of going home, I drove to the Sheriff’s station. Didn’t yet knew what I wanted there, but I had to go there and find one of the Deputies. Anyhow, I didn’t made it to the station. Instead, I found myself in a nearly deserted parking lot. Two deputies’ cars were there, no one else. One of the deputies sat in one of his cars, unconscious as far as I could see. Tied to the stirring wheel. Guess that was the one I was here for. The other one was pouring gasoline all over him and the car.

“Haigh, what are you doing? You don’t have to do this!”

“You’re worth five million, Parrish.”

“I barely earn forty thousand.”

“I earn thirty-six thousand.”

Well, now we knew, Deputies didn’t get paid to good. Haigh pulled out a lighter. Now would be a good time to interfere. But something told me, I didn’t had to. For some reason, he was in danger, but he wasn’t in danger. Confusing.

“No! No! Please, no. Don’t do this.”

The Deputy was panicking now. For a good reason. He must be thinking that he was about to die. And burning, I heard, wasn’t a nice way to die.

“Do you really want a hear a fellow deputy burn to death?”

The poor man was desperately trying to convince Haigh not to kill him. Haigh didn’t care too much. He just plugged in some headphones, threw the lighter and turned away. Inside the car, the deputy screamed in agony. Dying hurt. Soon, Haigh had enough and drove off. Now it was time for me, to help the man. He still screamed, not realizing that he wasn’t burning. I sat down next to him on the passenger seat.

“I think you can stop screaming now.”

He turned to me and screamed even louder. Now not only terrified, but freaked out.

“What’s your name, Deputy?”

“What… what are you?”

“I was told I might be a phoenix. But I’m here for you. Tell me your name.”

“Jordan… Jordan Parrish. Am I dead? Are you here to take my soul or something?”

“You mean like a reaper? No. I don’t reap souls. Don’t even know if reapers are real. Then again, I’ll never find out, will I?”

Parrish still looked horrified, but he seemed to have forgotten about the fire raging around us. His attention was focused on me only. But not me directly, something around me.

“What do you see?”

“A bird. A giant, red and golden bird. It’s burning and… oh god. I’m burning! I’m… I…”

“Calm down. Jordan! Look at me. My face, I mean. Not the aura. Look at me. You’re not dying. Not today. You’re perfectly safe at the moment. Don’t worry about the fire. It cannot harm you. Look!”

I reached out and took his hand. Holding it between my own, burning hands. Looking down at them, I saw what he had meant. A golden and red aura gleamed around them, like flames, but they didn’t burned me, the seemed to protect me. But where my finders were supposed to be, the aura had claws. I shook that thought off, it wasn’t important now. First, I had to calm Jordan down, then I could freak out about claws and auras.

“Look at your hand. It’s not burned. Just smut.”

I rubbed at his palm and his skin became visible beneath it. Unharmed and normal coloured.

“You’re not burning.”

“I’m not… I’m not burning.”

His breath calmed down and he starred at our hands in disbelieve.

“Why am I not burning?”

“Because you’re like me. You can’t burn.”

“Am I a phoenix? Like… like you?”

I looked up in his eyes. They were glowing orange, mine, I knew, burned golden.

“I don’t think so. But you’re something powerful, not unlike me. Just a little different.”

What bothered me was that I didn’t knew what he was. All I could tell was, he was no shapeshifter, like werewolves. He was unlike anything I ever knew about. But and that I knew for sure, he was not a phoenix.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Jordan nodded slightly and I let go of his hand. We got out of the car and walked away from it.

“What now?”

He still sounded scared, though, not terrified anymore. Just scared and insecure.

“If I were you, I’d go and give your colleague a nice little scare. After all, he tried to kill you. No less then burn you. And as far as I heard, it hurts like hell. Probably the reason hell is supposed to be burning.”

Jordan nodded and walked away, but came back quickly.

“One last question. Who are you? Are you on the list? Because then you’re in danger.”

“I don’t know if I’m on the list, but let them come for me.”

Although, he didn’t know what exactly I meant, he seemed to find it reassuring enough to leave me alone. But we would meet again soon. He’d probably seek me out to ask more questions. For now, he was busy. And I should go home. 


	6. Chapter 6

Some days later, I mainly spent them with Derek, I met Jordan again. I sat on at the edge of the woods near our house, as he drove by. He recognized me and stopped.

“You’re the girl from the other night, aren’t you?”

“Hello Jordan, did you scare your colleague?”

He sat down next to me. Starring at me as if he could still see the phoenix.

“Nearly gave him a heart attack, when I walked in, naked and all smutty.”

“Deserved that. He tried to murder you. He definitely deserved a little scare.”

“But that’s the point. He set me on fire. I shouldn’t be alive. How… how am I still alive?”

I patted his shoulder sympathetically.

“It’s hard not knowing what you are, I know. Especially in the beginning.”

“When did you find out?”

“The night before.”

More than shrugging my shoulder, I didn’t do. Why should I? I still didn’t know much about myself. Right now, I was more interested in him anyways.

“What happened after that?”

“The Sheriff arrested Haigh for attempted murder. Then he questioned me, how I could survive. I told him, I don’t know. And it’s the truth. But… I didn’t tell him about you. After I showered and calmed down, I wasn’t sure anymore, if you were even real.”

“I’m real. I think.” I laughed, “No, I’m as real as you are. I’m not some terrifying angel of death or something like it. Don’t worry.”

“But you had wings.”

Now, I was surprised. It obviously pleased Jordan, that he was able to surprise me like that.

“They didn’t really fit in the car. It looked like they weren’t completely unfolded. They must be huge. Huge and red and gold and somehow fiery.”

“Wings… I’m a bird… of course. I’m a phoenix, what else should I be, then I winged, fiery bird.”

Jordan laughed softly.

“What else can you do, besides not burning in a burning car, I mean.”

“I’m training to control fire. But I’m not very good at it, yet. I can’t die. That’s probably the main thing. If I’m mortally wounded, I burn. Other wounds just get hot and heal. And… I know about people like us.”

“Know what?”

“Usually everything. I know when I meet a person if he is special. I know almost everything about them as soon as I meet them. And I can sense if they’re in danger.”

“Like Lydia? Like a banshee?”

“No. Lydia only knows if people are dying. I… I knew about you. That’s why I was there. I knew you were in danger when Haigh kidnapped you. But when he was about to set you aflame, I knew you weren’t in danger anymore. But here’s the weird thing: I have not the tiniest clue about anything else connected to you. I didn’t even knew your name. And… I have no idea what you are. It… it’s just… nothing comes. Usually, it just pops up. Not with you. You’re a mystery to me. which is rare. I like that… but it also scares me.”

It was true. I liked it that I, for once didn’t know everything about everybody. I wanted to know about him, but I could get to know him the normal way. It was awesome, something special. But the reason behind it bothered me, that he was so different. I couldn’t know if he was dangerous. A feeling told me, he wasn’t. Not a supernatural feeling, just my gut.

“What now?”

“You go on as usual. Just don’t get killed, okay? I don’t think I’d like that.”

He smiled and drove off, leaving me in thoughts.


	7. Chapter 7

The next days were quiet for me. Scott had some trouble, but as long as he didn’t ask me for help, I wouldn’t interfere. Then they drove off to Mexico to save Scott and Kira, who’d been kidnapped by Kate. Kate was the crazy ex-girlfriend of Derek, who set his house on fire and killed most of his family. Peter then had killed her, but she came back as a were jaguar. Nothing I would want to fight, but okay, if they thought they had to. Derek asked me if I’d come along. I wanted to say no. I really, really wanted to, but I agreed. Derek and I had discovered that I was rather powerful. My aura was equal to their wolfs shape. I could fight with it and I could even throw fire. Pretty awesome. So, I agreed and went along with them. Together with Derek, Stiles and Liam, Scott’s first beta, in an armoured car. It was a full moon and Liam hadn’t yet learned to control his powers. For me, it wasn’t so important that he didn’t turn, for Derek and Stiles, it was.

“Maybe, you should sit with Braeden. Both of you.”

“And you? I’d still hurt you.”

Derek laughed, “Don’t worry about her. Peter ripped her throat out. Yet here she is.”

Now, he did worry about me, but for another reason.

“What he actually wanted to say is, I heal. Killing me is a pleasure you can have more than once. those two, however, you can kill only once, and I’d prefer if neither of them died today. If they stay, you need to be in control.”

“Did you find out what you are?”

“Considering I can take the form of a giant, flaming bird and heal by burning, I decided to stick with phoenix.”

Before we could continue our little chat, Liam began to turn. Slamming against the wall, he shook the whole car. Luckily, Derek and Stiles, well, mainly Stiles actually, managed to calm Liam down enough, that he could regain control. Just in time as we reached La Iglesia. Though, we didn’t even had the time to get out. The door was ripped off and Derek was dragged out. We jumped into fight. Berserkers, huge creatures with an armour made from animal bones, were damn hart to fight. But the fight ended quickly, as one of them slammed Derek in a rock and stabbed him in the chest several times.

“Nooo!”

Braeden was the first at his side. Most of us gathered around him, while a group of hunters from Mexico kept the Berserker busy.

“Go find them. Save them.”

Most of us moved, wanted to rush inside to save them. all, actually, except for Braeden and Stiles. He just stood there, horrified, starring at Derek. We all knew, Derek would die. There was only one possible way he could survive and that was, realising his mate. The last weeks, he hadn’t made any progress in figuring out who that was. Now, I had no hope anymore. I couldn’t understand how he could be that blind, his mate was right in front of him, starring down at his dying body, but he didn’t see it. With an annoyed snarl I knelt down next to him.

“Derek, please, think! It’s your only chance. Think!”

Behind me, the others moved uncomfortably. He had to send them away. Derek knew as well as we all did, if they didn’t go now, more would die. But they waited for Stiles, who still stood there like petrified. It was him, who Derek directed his next words at, him only.

“Save them. Go!”

And they did. Finally, Stiles moved. They went inside, but I stayed with Derek. Braeden was shooting at the Berserker, I threw fire at it, but kept kneeling at Derek’s side.

“You know who it is.”

“I don’t. Who… who could it be? there is no one. There’s only Braeden. And you already told me, it’s not her.”

I turned to look at her. She really cared for Derek, it was obvious. But she had heard our conversation and most likely understood. Slowly she nodded at him.

“She’s right. You don’t love me. Not… not like that.”

“I’m sorry I have to do that, Braeden.”

She shook her head, shooting angrily at the Berserker.

“Whatever it takes to save him. Make him realise.”

Sighing, I threw another fireball after the monster and turned back to Derek. He didn’t have much time left.

“For heaven’s sake, Derek, haven’t you realised yet that you never had luck with women?”

His eyes grew wide, he finally started to understand.

“It’s… my mate is a guy?”

“Yes! Yes. Thank god. Yes!”

“but… who?”

Sudden awareness shone on his face, his eyes light up in a bright blue before darkening. The excitement vanished and nothing was left, but his dead body. It was too late, I had been to slow. I should have made him understand. Should have… should have found a way… done something… anything. Rage burned at me as I rose. My avatar burned around me, brighter than ever before.

“You will pay for this, Kate Argent! Come out and die!”

Three berserkers came at me, one I threw aside with a flick of my hand, another I sat on fire. The third stabbed me in the chest, but I just pulled his bone dagger out and slammed it into his skull.

“You cannot kill me, Kate. AND YOU CANNNOT WIN!”

Even the hunters backed away from me as I made my way towards Kate. She backed away as far as she could. Only the third Berserker was standing between us. But before I could kill that one too, a growl stopped me. A large, black wolf stood next to me, with clear blue eyes.

“It’s all yours. Go for it.”

I stepped aside, allowing Derek to kill the third monster. He turned back to a human and ripped the skull apart. By that time, Kate had already killed some more Hunters and fled.

“So, you did realise it in time.”

Pleased with him, I nodded. It had been about time.

“But-” he shrugged his shoulder vaguely.

“I know. He doesn’t yet know. And… I don’t think you should tell him.”

“No, I shouldn’t. But… I can’t stay.”

“It’s okay.”

I wasn’t sure if I did a good job reassuring people, but I seemed to do not much else.

“Don’t worry. You’ll stay that way. As long as you’re coming back for him, it won’t change.”

Derek nodded, then turned to Braeden. Both knew that they just brock up. No words needed for that. By now, Scott and his pack came out of the church. Looking more than happy that they all were alive and to find Derek alive and fine.

“I won’t come back with you.”

“Neither will I.”

Chris Argent, Kates brother and a former hunter, turned to the other Hunters.

“I made a deal with them some time ago. They’ll leave you alone, but I have to go with them. Stop Kate.”

“I will look for her, too. On my own.”

Jordan, who I noticed only now, shrugged his shoulders.

“All of you, who come back with us, should get in their cars now. It’s time to leave.”

Everybody listened, but me. As they got into their cars and left, I kept standing there, next to Derek. In the last weeks, I’d grown quite fond of him. He was kind of my only friend.

“It’s okay. Go home. I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll know if not.”

That was what scared me, that I would know if he was in trouble, but he would be too far away for me to help him.

“Summer break is coming up in a few weeks.”

Derek understood immediately what I was saying and nodded.

“See you then.”

With that, he turned into a wolf and vanished into the night. Leaving me alone in the middle of a destroyed city. Well, not completely alone. Jordan apparently had waited for me.

“C’mon, Phoenix, time to go.”

Suddenly I felt incredible tired. The fight had drained a lot energy and seeing Derek die had been hard, even though he had come back. I barely made it to the car, before breaking down.

“You have fought well, but now you should rest.”

I didn’t know how long I had been sleeping, but when I woke up it was still dark, and we were still driving. But that didn’t mean much since we would drive for about ten hours. Anyways, I felt a lot better now.

“If you want to sleep, I could drive for a while.”

Jordan turned and smiled at me.

“You’re awake. Good. Here.”

He reached to the backseat and handed be a paper bag.

“Eat first, then you can drive. Maybe we can talk a bit. Didn’t get a chance before.”

“What do you want to talk about? I guess, you don’t know any more about what you are than before. Neither do I.”

“Well, since neither of us knows much about the other, maybe we should just get to know each other like normal people do.”

I laughed and began to eat a sandwich from the bag. Normal. I haven’t done anything normal for years, well, besides school of course. But Beacon Hill High School was pretty much anything than normal. Half the students were supernatural or involved in supernatural stuff, the teachers were too, or they were evil druids, who sacrificed innocent. Okay, true, that happened only once, but still.

Bobby was surprisingly happy when I returned home after the trip. I had told him that we’d go camping and he actually believed me.


	8. Chapter 8

what he didn’t like was, when I told him that I would leave on the last school day to meet with Derek. He tried to stop me from it. Without much luck, of course. I still left and travelled to Mexico. I just hoped Bobby wouldn’t accuse Derek of kidnapping me.

It took me some time to find Derek. I started at the church where we last saw him and followed my intuition from there. Three days I drove throughout Mexico. But then I finally found him, close to the US border.

“It’d be easier to track down Kate than to track down you. Get a phone.”

Derek had talked to a man when I had found him. Now he turned around with the biggest grin I ever saw on him.

“Reyna Arida. You found me. Of course, you did. Clever girl. And about time.”

“You’re as close to finding Kate as you were when you left, am I right?”

“That’s what I need you for. I just don’t get what she’s up too.”

“No good, as usual. She tries to find yellow wolfsbane. And she found a way to mask her scent, that’s why you couldn’t find her.”

“But you can, right?”

I shook my head, “I don’t know. I tried to figure out where she is. Spent the last weeks on it. No luck. She’s moving. Yesterday, I thought I might have gotten close, but then … gone.”

It would be really hard to get close to her. I had no feeling for her. But it was different from Jorden. With him, his powers blocked mine out, but she did it through magic or whatever.

Three month I travelled with Derek, sometimes with Cora too. But we found nothing, only bodies left by her. Then the summer was over. Almost time for me to return to Beacon Hills. I didn’t want to, but I hadn’t had much of a choice. As things were, I didn’t had to return quite yet. To tell the truth, I couldn’t return right now. We’d been in somewhere in Maine. Whatever Kate had wanted in Maine, she had been gone before we got there. Unfortunately, she had attracted a group of hunters. Deciding, that they didn’t want to go home empty handed, they took us prisoner. Now, we were in some rotted bunker in the middle of nowhere. Probably closer to the Canadian border than to any remotely big city. Then again, most of Maine was closer to Canada than to a big city. At least they didn’t separate us, probably thought we wouldn’t make it out anyways.

“And now?”

Derek growled at the door, Cora was still unconscious and had a body temperature of more than fifty degrees Celsius.

“Leave the door alone, Der, I already tried everything when you were out. It’s mountain ash and steel. Even you won’t make it through. I could melt it, of course. But I’d burn down the whole bunker. You included.”

“Not the best idea, then.”

“Yeah, figured that too.”

Derek quit growling at the door and sat down next to me. He stared at his sister, but I wasn’t sure if he actually saw her.

“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?”

“I’m thinking that I don’t want to die in a Hunter’s bunker…. And about him.”

That made me laugh for a second, of course he was thinking about him. Who else would it be? Though, I knew that he tried to ignore his feelings for him. Without much success, obviously.

“We’ll make it back home. You will see him again. One day, he will realise how much he misses you and that he loves you. It’ll turn out all right. Maybe he already knows how much you mean to him, maybe it will take some more time. but he will, I’m certain of it.”

Derek stayed silent, but Cora groaned and sat up.

“How are you so tediously optimistic? All those things you know, all these terrible, horrible things in your head, and still… you’re always the one reassuring everyone.”

“Noticed that too.”

“So, I take it, you don’t want me to tell you, that none of us is in immediate danger?”

Both laughed and shook their heads. Cora joined us, leaning against the cold wall.

“That’s how I stay optimistic. I know that all the people I care about are relatively save - though, something is coming. Something big.”

I shook my head and curled up on the floor. Healing was exhausting and for the moment nothing was happening.

“You should sleep too, both of you. If anything happens, I’ll know early enough to warn you.”

Both agreed, they needed rest as much as I did. For now, there was nothing we could do. Soon enough we’d figure out an escape plan and get home. At least I hoped so.

Not too soon, however. For me, it would have been easy to get out, but Derek and Cora would have had stayed behind. So, I stayed to, waiting for an opportunity to get all three of us out. Derek then went after Kate again. I could give him rough directions, the rest he had to do himself. Cora and I rented a car and made our way west that way. Surprisingly, it took us only two days to get home as we almost never stopped. That was the biggest advantage of being a shapeshifter, we needed less rest and therefore could drive longer. On the third day of our journey we arrived in Beacon Hills, where Cora and I parted ways, she would return to Seattle, where she lived now.

“I told you, we’ll make it home.”

“Still, I hate your optimism. But you were right. Time to go home.”

She drove off and I walked the rest of the way.


	9. Chapter 9

Though I didn’t go home like in Bobby’s house. It was late morning as I walked in the Sheriff’s station.

“Hello Sheriff, how’s it going here? On second thought, don’t answer, I already know enough. Dread Doctors.”

Stilinski stared at me astonished, as if he couldn’t believe I was actually standing in front of him.

“You’re… you’re Reyna Arida, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, hi. Is Jordan here?”

“You… your father’s worried sick about you!”

“Nah, I already told him, that I’d meet with Derek during the summer.”

I dismissed his shocked expression with a wave of my hand. Sure, I felt sorry for Bobby, but I had told him where I went. Everything else was out of my control.

“Yeah, he’d told me that. But he also said that you should’ve been home for senior year.”

“I am, ain’t I? How long … how long was I gone exactly?”

“About five months, summer included.”

“Two month? We spent two month in this godforsaken dungeon?”

“What dungeon? What happened?”

“One or two days before I wanted to come back, we were captured, Derek, Cora and me. Some hunters. I knew we were there for a while, but I didn’t think it was that long. I need to get to school. Do me a favour, tell Jordan I’ll come by later.”

Without waiting for an answer, I stormed off. I had come here first because I finally figured out what he was, but I couldn’t keep Bobby waiting any longer.

I didn’t stop to think about what to tell him until I stood in front of his classroom. No explanation I could think off sounded even remotely convincing. So, instead of telling him right away, I went to his office to wait for him there. It looked surprisingly normal. The only difference I could see was a framed picture of me on the desk. Before, it had been lying in one of the drawers. But I guess he didn’t care about keeping it secret anymore. Then again, he never had. It had always been me. I never wanted anyone to know that the crazy coach was my godfather. But he was more than that, I realised, he had been more than that my entire life. At first, he was my uncle. Around all the time, doing cool stuff with me, later he had become my father. I just had been too stubborn to see it.

“Rey?”

Deeply in thoughts as I had been, I hadn’t seen Bobby coming. Now he stood there, frozen. All he did was staring at me as if he saw a ghost.

“Hey.”

I tried to smile, but I felt more like crying. I had missed Bobby in the last months so incredibly much that it hurt, I was sorry that he had worried about me and happy to see him. There were just way too many emotions in my head right now. So, I did the only thing I could think of and threw myself into his arms. He leaped forward at the same time, hugging me so closely, I thought he was suffocating me.

“Don’t ever do that again. You hear me? Not ever.”

He let go of me and I could see tears in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, I really am. I wanted to be back in September. Just like I said I would.”

“But?”

I guess, I had some explaining to do. He deserved to know. All of it, all the crazy bullshit.

“You better sit down, that’ll take a while.”

“What?”

“You want to know what’s been going on. Okay. I’ll tell you. If you don’t believe me, ask the Sheriff. He knows.”

And so, I told him everything. Most of it in the shorted version. My own story he got in full edition. It took us an hour. He believed me rather quickly, after I showed him my avatar. Enough strange things had happened here at the school that he said it was not too big of a surprise. It might have scared him though, but he was way too happy, that I was home, to care. School was already over when we finished our conversation.

“Let’s go home.”

“I’d love to, really, but I have to talk to Jordan. He needs to know. Please Dad, I need to tell him.”

Bobby shook his head, then stopped abruptly.

“You… you called me ‘Dad’”

“I know. Because you are. You are my Dad. For the last twelve years you’ve been my Dad and I… I was an idiot. I’m sorry.”

Another bone crushing hug followed, but then Bobby told me to go and find my friend.


	10. Chapter 10

I didn’t have to find him, I knew where he was. At the station. So that’s where I went. But when I went in to ask where he was, I overheard a conversation between Stilinski and Lydia.

“What the hell does he think he's doing?”

“Protecting us.”

She looked somehow sad, but certain. The Sheriff on the other hand looked mad.

“From who?”

“Himself”

The Sheriff shook his head obviously annoyed, but left Lydia alone. I followed him to the holding cells. In one of them sat Jordan. Silently he kneaded his hands, to deeply in thoughts to notice me or the Sheriff. Or at least I thought so, but when the Sheriff tried to open the door, he reacted immediately.

“No! I get why you set me at the desk for six months now.”

“Parrish, we can't keep you in here.”

“There is another body, right?”

“Two actually”

Parrish looked defeated and scared.

“I'm the one taking them. I don't... I don't know why, and I definitely don't remember doing it. But if it was me at the morgue, then I'm dangerous. Okay? You can't let me out, Sheriff. You can't.”

Stilinski turned his key card in his hand, thinking about what he should do now. Jordan sat down again, looking at his hands. The poor guy had no idea what was going on with him and it scared him out of his mind. Stilinski had decided to leave him there and turned to leave, now he saw me.

“Good, we have to clear the thing with the missing’s person report. C’mon.”

He looked back to Jordan, who still wasn’t aware of my presence.

“You can talk to him after that. I’ll fill you in on the details.”

  
Later, when I returned to Jordan, Lydia and Jordan sat each leaned against one side of the bars. Both looked sad.

“Go home, Lydia. Stilinski isn't telling anyone where he put the bodies and I'm pretty sure I'm not psychic.”

Even though it was meant as a joke, none of them laughed or even smiled.

“but you're drawn to death. Just like me.”

“does that make me a kind of banshee?”

“you find bodies.”

“I find chimaeras.”

“dead chimaeras.”

“So, we're both harbingers of death. I should probably ed that to my résumé.”

“it's on my College application.”

Both cracked a little smile as the fell silent again. After a while Lydia rose.

“The wild hunt. That’s it.”

“What?”

“I’m right back. Stay right here! You know what I mean.”

With that she left, and Jordan remained sitting in silence.

“I’m gone for five months and everything goes down.”

He jumped to his feet quicker than my eyes could follow.

“Rey! You’re back! I was worried. I mean, I know you can’t die, but… I thought… maybe someone found a way.”

“No. They weren’t that good. Though, they killed me several times. But, hey, here I am. Derek’s safe, too, just in case you care.”

“Not really, not now. I’m so happy you’re here. There’s so much going on and… I steal bodies and-”

I reached through the bars to hold his hand and he grabbed mine tightly.

“Stilinski told me about everything. It’s okay. I finally know. I figured it out. Lydia is close, too. You’re what they call a hellhound. You’re a bearer of death and a guardian of the supernatural. That’s why you stole the bodies. If you hadn’t, they had revealed the secret. It is your duty to prevent that. I haven’t learned much yet.”

“Am I dangerous?”

He sounded so scared and insecure, that it hurt me. I wanted to tell him no, to tell him that he wouldn’t hurt anyone. But that would mean I had to lie, and he deserved the truth.

“Extremely. To anyone and everyone in your way. To your enemies. I’m sorry Jordan, I wish I had better news.”

He tried a brave smile, but all it was, was scared.

“But I’m not afraid of you. Not only because I can’t die, but because I trust you.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t. Maybe you should stay away from me.”

“That’s not gonna happen. I’ll stay with you, for better or worse.”

“Probably worse.”

I smiled at him as warmly as I could. There was no way I’d let him go through this alone. No way. But for now, the best I could do, was stop talking about the potential threat he was.

“I might have found a reason why I don’t know about you. There’s a story about the first phoenix. The only one actually. According to this story, it was a hellhound who burned to death. It’s almost impossible for hellhounds to burn. This fire, however, was special. Something about fires of hell and demon’s fire. The story wasn’t really precise here. What it is precise about, is what happened next, a bird rose from the ashes of the hellhound. From that day on, sometimes, a very special child was born. A reincarnation of this bird. Anyways, the druid we met, said that it’s supposedly the reason why I can’t feel hellhounds. Too close to what I am.”

Jordan stared at me blankly, then nodded.

“Doesn’t sound much weirder than anything else I heard here.”

True enough. Most of the things I knew sounded like I was a lunatic.

“If people like you are that rare, the druid must have been excited to meet you.”

Chuckling, I thought back to the meeting. Excited wasn’t quite the right word.

“He said, it was the best moment in his life. He’d have to tell all his colleagues about me and write it down. I thought he’d start hyperventilating. Luckily, he calmed down after a while so we could actually talk.”

Jordan smiled at me softly. No idea why. There was no reason to look at me like this. But it made me blush.

“What is it? Why you’re looking at me like this?”

“Nothing. I’m just glad to see you again. I missed you.”

Oh, I’d missed him too. While we were imprisoned, I thought about him all the time. For some reason I couldn’t get him out of my head. At first, before we’d met the druid, I thought it was because I didn’t have any information about him. But after that I knew what he was, it didn’t bother me anymore, so why did I keep thinking about him?

“It’s good to know that you didn’t get yourself killed while I was gone.”

“You told me not to, so I didn’t”

“Honestly, I didn’t thought you would listen.”

Jordan shrugged his shoulders, “Maybe it would have been better if I hadn’t. Like you said, I’m dangerous to everyone in my way. I... I hurt my colleagues and don’t even remember it. I could have... I could have killed them.”

He looked so helpless and desperate.

“What aren’t you telling me? There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“How do you know? ... Never mind, doesn’t matter. Yes, you’re right. ... There is this dream. It repeats itself. Night for night.”

“What is it about?”

“I’m stealing the bodies.”

“Like, you actually do it and afterwards think it’s a dream?”

Slowly he shook his head.

“No. There were eight bodies at the tree. But in my dream, there're ... There're hundreds of them.”

That was disturbing. It could mean that all those bodies were out there or that they had yet to die.

“Who’s bodies? Did you recognise them?”

“Everyone. It was everyone.”

So, we were all going to die? All beside me, of course, since I couldn’t die. I would end up alone? The last living being. No one but me and the memories of those who had once been. Ruins of a world once populated, now deserted. I could actually see it. I could see Beacon Hills burned down, bodies everywhere. Not only humans, but animals too. A wave of terror washed over me. I turned around to see an enormous beast behind me. Bigger than anything I’d ever seen. Black, it had a solid body, but was nothing but smoke, at the same time. It’s eyes glowed blue. They were different than normal werewolf eyes, though I was sure it was a werewolf. Its growl shook the ruins of the buildings around us. It was hunting me. Wanted to kill me. Not for food, but for fun. I’d be endless sports for him. He could hunt and kill me for all eternity and that was what it would do. It would hunt me until it had driven me crazy and even then, it would not stop.

“Hey, hey Reyna, it’s okay.”

Jordan grabbed my shoulders. The vision of the beast was gone, and I was back at the station. Only now I realised that my breath had fastened, my hands were shaking and sweat was rolling off my forehead. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down, my breath slowed, and my hands began to steady. As soon as he saw it, Jordan let go of me and stepped back.

“I’m sorry... I... So sorry. I'm a monster.”

“No, no, you’re not. I’m not scared of you.”

He swallowed heavily, “You are. I saw the fear in your eyes. You’re terrified. ... Go, Reyna. Please, go.”

Immense sadness shone on his face, as he laid down and turned his back to me. My heart was heavy, but I turned and walked out. How could I leave him there? Alone, thinking he was a monster. There had to be something I could do!

“Sheriff, open the cell.”

“What? Are you mad? No!”

“You have to, please. Let me in. Let me help him.”

Determination was visible in Stilinski’s expression, but I was quite determinate myself.

“He is scared. He’s so afraid of himself… Just let me help him.”

“I would, really, but I can’t let you in. He’s dangerous, he could hurt you.”

“He won’t. Not me.”

“He won’t recognize you.”

I shook my head frustrated.

“Yeah, I know that Sheriff. That’s not what I meant. Fire can’t hurt me. But… maybe I can … I think I can stop him from harming others. I’m rather similar to him. I think, he… the other he… I think he’ll listen to me.”

“I can’t. it’s too risky. You don’t understand what he’s capable of.”

“No, you don’t understand. I cannot die. Okay? There is no way to kill me. At least I haven’t found one yet. He is no danger to me. Just let me in!”

For a moment I thought he would send Stilinski would send me away. Then he sighed. He clearly didn’t like the idea, but he opened Jordan’s cell for me.

“No! What are you doing? No, please, Sheriff, don’t.”

“Thank you, Sheriff, you can lock the door now.”

“I still don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“It is, trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

That was a bit exaggerated, but right now, it didn’t matter. The Sheriff believed me and left us alone. Jordan starred at me, incapable of believing what I had done.

“I told you, I’m not afraid of you.”

“But… but…”

I took some steps towards him, close enough to take his hands. Clutching them tightly. 

“When you said you saw everyone… I wasn’t afraid of you. You just carry them there. You don’t actually kill them. Those bodies aren’t your fault. None of this is your fault.”

I didn’t tell him about the beast I saw. It wasn’t him, that I was sure of. But I couldn’t tell what it was or if this was happening because of it. So, until I knew more, I’d keep it to myself. There was no reason to scare them more than necessary.

“Why were you afraid then? If not because of me, why then?”

“If everyone died… I cannot die, remember? I don’t think there is a way for me to die.”

My voice was shaking now. Nothing had ever terrified me as much as this. And I had seen and learned many terrifying, disturbing things.

“If everyone died… I’d be … alone. It’d… It’d be just me. I don’t want to be alone.”

“Oh, dear lord.”

Finally realising what I was so terrible afraid of, Jordan took the last step towards me and closed his arms around me.

“I won’t let that happen. Whatever else is going on, I won’t let you be alone. I’ll find a way, no matter what. I promise you.”

“A way to stop it or a way for me to die?”

“Preferably the first, but if I have to, I’ll make sure you won’t be left alone.”

I took a small step back, breaking up the hug, and just looked at him. There was no way I’d ever be scared of him. He was a good man, kind, gentle and caring.

“We’ll find a way to save everyone. Scott will, and we will help him.”

“Is that the Phoenix talking?”

“no, that’s the tedious optimist talking.”

“Wouldn’t call it that.”

“Cora did. When we were captured. She wondered how I could possibly stay that optimistic.”

“And how can you?”

Smiling at Jordan I thought about all the things that helped me through the bad stuff. Bobby, the few friends I had, well Cora and Derek, the knowledge about the good things and Jordan. Thinking about him meant thinking about truly good. Scott might be a true alpha, but Jordan was in my opinion the better person. That’s why I was convinced that he would be the one fighting this beast if it’d ever became real. Truly good fighting truly evil.

“I focus on the good things. Things like you.”

“I’m not… me? I’m not good.”

“Aren’t you? Jordan, you are so incredibly good-hearted. You don’t care about what happens to you because of you, all you worry about are others. You locked yourself in here to protect them. All you ever did was protecting people. You care about others, take care of them. You want others to be happy. You worried about me, that I should stay away from you, even though I literally am the only person not in danger with you. Don’t tell me you’re a bad person. I know you’re not and I will fight everyone who says otherwise.”

Jordan shook his head, unwilling to believe what I tried to tell him.

“I won’t go away. No matter what.”

“And your godfather?”

“Bobby knows where I am. I told him about all of it and he … he isn’t happy about any of this. But he understands one thing, that I have to help my friends. And that’s what I’m doing here. Helping my friend.”

“You’re completely mad.”

“I know, my finest characteristic. But jokes aside, you should get some sleep, and so should I, probably.”

Jordan agreed and laid down on the bench. After some arguing about me sleeping on the floor. But I won and so he went to sleep. I hadn’t intended to sleep anyways. I had figured that it would be easiest for the hellhound to take over when Jordan was asleep and that’s what I was waiting for. Which I didn’t tell him, of course. I felt terrible for not telling him, but if he knew he’d be so anxious and freaked out that he wouldn’t sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

It still took him some time to relax. He was turning around all the time. Once or twice, I was worried that he’d fall of the bench. Eventually, he rose only to lay down again, but next to me on the floor this time. he didn’t say anything, I wasn’t even sure if he knew that I was awake. All he did was laying down and taking my hand. After that he fell asleep almost immediately. Now it was only a matter of minutes till the hellhound took over.

His body temperature rose slightly, and he let go of my hand. Slowly he rose and looked at me, trying to figure out if I was a threat or would try to stop him.

“I mean no harm to you.”

He seemed to believe me, maybe because he could access Jordan’s memories, maybe because I was a Phoenix. However, he chose to ignore me. walked straight past me, pushed the bars aside by melting them and walked out of the station. I followed him, trying to get him to talk to me. without success. But since he didn’t try to kill me it was no complete failure. As I had expected, he found the two bodies in no time and carried them to the Nemeton. After that he walked back to Jordan’s apartment. There he collapsed on the floor. I laid down on the bed/couch and fell asleep soon.

“Wake up, Ray.”

Jordan was leaning over me, rested, and freshly showered. Which was necessary since he had been all smutty after his little trip yesterday.

“Let me guess, I found the bodies?”

“Yes. But if it makes you feel better, you didn’t hurt anyone. I was by your side the whole night until you passed out here. No one got hurt. The sheriff tried to stop you, but for some reason you just walked around him.”

“Really? That’s new.”

“But it’s good. That means it’s not completely hopeless. I texted Argent last night about an idea.”

The idea I had was a bad one. A very, terribly bad one. It could kill him, drive him crazy or worse. But it was the last option I could think of, so I didn’t have too much of a choice. Maybe, if it worked, Jordan could control the hellhound afterwards. But only maybe.

“Okay. When can we start this idea?”

Oh dear, why did he have to trust me? couldn’t he at least ask what the idea was instead of blindly agreeing to me murdering him?

“As soon as Argent answers. For now, we can’t do anything else then have a breakfast.”

“Should I tell the Sheriff where I am?”

“He knows. I called him. We agreed that you are no danger at the moment and that the station couldn’t hold you even if you were. So, it’s best you just stay low. But I promised that you wouldn’t be left alone.”

“So practically, you’ve been taking care of everything all night long?”

“Looks like. Did I earn breakfast with that?”

“I’ll make some. You can take a shower in the meantime.”

God knows that was necessary. I couldn’t even remember when I showered last.

Ten minutes later we sat on couch and ate.

“You really need some more furniture.”

“Why?”

It was a joke. Obviously, since his living room was his bedroom and contained only a dresser, a coffee table, and a couch. 

“It’s enough for now.”

He laughed, then shook his head.

“No, but seriously. When I moved here, I wasn’t sure how long I would stay, so I rented this apartment, and it came with only this furniture. And what can I say, I got used to it.”

“Yeah, for just you, it’s enough, sure. But what if you have visitors? Do you always sleep on the floor?”

“Actually, you’re the first person to sleep here. The first one to see this apartment, too.”

“Wow. Sounds like you have almost as many friends as I do.”

“You’ve got the Hales, haven’t you?”

“Derek and Cora, yes. Not Peter. He murdered me once. I don’t like him.”

“I guess not many people can say that about a person.”

“You can with Haigh, can’t you?”

Jordan chuckled, “True enough. But I guess, without you I would have sit in this car until my heart had killed me.”

“Hey, but that means I saved you.”

“Of course, you did. Not only then. You saved me yesterday, too.”

“Nah, I didn’t do anything but asking you/him, not to hurt the Sheriff.”

“That was very nice of you, and I’m grateful. But that’s not what I meant. You saved me when you refused to leave me. When you stood by my side.”

Now, I was speechless. What was I supposed to answer to that?

“Well, I seem to have a tendency for finding weird friends.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Next thing I knew, Jordan leaned over and kissed me.

After he begged away again, I blinked at him, slightly confused. That had come unexpected. Not that I was mad at him for it, I was just a little stunned.

“I’m sorry.”

Jordan blushed and looked utterly embarrassed and a little as if he didn’t know why he’d just done what he did. Which made me smile. Most of the time I didn’t eve notice how cute and awkward Jordan was.


End file.
